Four doctors sued over Raifa death

A case has been filed with Chawkbazar police station against four doctors in connection with the death of Rafida Raifa Khan, daughter of Rubel Khan, a journalist, for wrong treatment and negligence.

Two-and-half-year-old Raifa died at the city’s Max Hospital allegedly due to wrong treatment and negligence on June 30. Eighteen days after the incident, Rubel Khan filed the case yesterday.

The accused are child specialist Dr Bidhan Roy Chowdhury, 50, Dr Debashish Sengupta, 32, Dr Shuvra Deb, 32, and the hospital’s managing director, Dr Liakat Ali Khan, 57.

Abul Kalam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Chawkbazar police station, said: “We have received the complaint against the doctors. We will take action as per the law.”

After the death of Raifa, journalists raised allegations of wrong treatment. The police had picked up the two on-duty doctors, Dr Debashish Sengupta and Dr Shuvra Deb, and brought them to Chakwbazar police station.

A three-member committee was formed in the presence of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) members and leaders of the Chittagong Union of Journalists (CUJ) to probe the incident and the two doctors were released. It was also decided that if their involvement was found, a case would be filed.

The probe committee, led by Chittagong civil surgeon Dr Azizur Rahman Siddique, found evidence of negligence of the on-duty physicians, nurses and the hospital authorities in connection with the death of Rafia.

The report also revealed that the accused physician, Dr Bidhan Roy Chowdhury, did not treat the patient with due seriousness.

The committee found that Dr Debashish Sengupta and Dr Shuvra Dev did not provide sincere service when the patient’s condition deteriorated. The hospital lacked in medical management due to inexperienced nurses and physicians, the report said.

The committee made a four-point recommendation for the hospital. These are: taking steps against the three on-duty physicians on charges of medical negligence; making amends for the faulty medical management of the hospital; ensuring healthcare services with nurses having diploma degrees (as per rules, a hospital must recruit nurses with diploma degrees, but Max Hospital has no such nurses); and ensuring full-time, quick and sincere services by specialised doctors.

The two other members of the committee were the head of the child health department at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH), Dr Pranab Kumar Chowdhury, and the joint secretary of the CUJ, Sabur Shuvo.

Another committee formed by the health ministry found fault with the hospital’s licence and found as many as 11 anomalies.

On July 8, a mobile court of the Rapid Action Battalion had slapped the hospital a fine of Tk. 10 lakh as it was being run with faulty licence, inept doctors, nurses, expired pharmacy licence, without pharmacists, and for making diagnosis without expert doctors, even though their signatures were given on reports.

 

 

 

Four doctors sued over Raifa death

A case has been filed with Chawkbazar police station against four doctors in connection with the death of Rafida Raifa Khan, daughter of Rubel Khan, a journalist, for wrong treatment and negligence. Two-and-half-year-old Raifa died at the citys Max Hospital allegedly due to wrong treatment and negligence on June 30. Eighteen days after the incident, Rubel Khan filed the case yesterday. The accused are child specialist Dr Bidhan Roy Chowdhury, 50, Dr Debashish Sengupta, 32, Dr Shuvra Deb, 32, and the hospitals managing director, Dr Liakat Ali Khan, 57. Abul Kalam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Chawkbazar police station, said: We have received the complaint against the doctors. We will take action as per the law. After the death of Raifa, journalists raised allegations of wrong treatment. The police had picked up the two on-duty doctors, Dr Debashish Sengupta and Dr Shuvra Deb, and brought them to Chakwbazar police station. A three-member committee was formed in the presence of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) members and leaders of the Chittagong Union of Journalists (CUJ) to probe the incident and the two doctors were released. It was also decided that if their involvement was found, a case would be filed. The probe committee, led by Chittagong civil surgeon Dr Azizur Rahman Siddique, found evidence of negligence of the on-duty physicians, nurses and the hospital authorities in connection with the death of Rafia. The report also revealed that the accused physician, Dr Bidhan Roy Chowdhury, did not treat the patient with due seriousness. The committee found that Dr Debashish Sengupta and Dr Shuvra Dev did not provide sincere service when the patients condition deteriorated. The hospital lacked in medical management due to inexperienced nurses and physicians, the report said. The committee made a four-point recommendation for the hospital. These are: taking steps against the three on-duty physicians on charges of medical negligence; making amends for the faulty medical management of the hospital; ensuring healthcare services with nurses having diploma degrees (as per rules, a hospital must recruit nurses with diploma degrees, but Max Hospital has no such nurses); and ensuring full-time, quick and sincere services by specialised doctors. The two other members of the committee were the head of the child health department at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH), Dr Pranab Kumar Chowdhury, and the joint secretary of the CUJ, Sabur Shuvo. Another committee formed by the health ministry found fault with the hospitals licence and found as many as 11 anomalies. On July 8, a mobile court of the Rapid Action Battalion had slapped the hospital a fine of Tk. 10 lakh as it was being run with faulty licence, inept doctors, nurses, expired pharmacy licence, without pharmacists, and for making diagnosis without expert doctors, even though their signatures were given on reports.